When Apple Was Over.

Ten years ago...

No one said, "I've got to have 10,000 songs in my pocket." Or, "I need to Google that." There was no Viagra. The three dollar cup of coffee was an obscure phenomenon.

People found their groceries in stores and their mates in bars and no one said, "I think I could do better on the Internet." People got their videos at the corner Blockbuster and they liked it! No one let their fingers do the walking through the Yellow Pages searching for a "Strip Tease Aerobics" class.

• Phone numbers were in a big book that came two ways, yellow or white.
• Directions came from gas station attendants.
• Books could only be bought in book stores or borrowed from libraries.
• Auctions were for the rich.
• Travel agents booked trips.
• Stocks were traded by professionals.
• Doctors knew more than their patients.
• Presidents consulted the CIA, not CNN.

Ten years ago, Apple was over and Google wasn't even a glimmer!

• MTV was a place to watch videos.
• HBO was a place to watch movies.
• No one thought they needed a thirty dollar tube of toothpaste.
• Buzz was for bees.
• Advocacy was for causes.
• Viral was for viruses.
• Branded entertainment was about entertainment, not branding.
• Advertising was advertising, and everything else wasn't.

And ten years ago, the world didn't need a new agency. But we didn't wait to be asked. Our passion for working with the visionaries who were creating the future demanded action, not talk. Through a decade of ad trends, long before the industry started talking about it, we had done it. Because advantage comes from preempting trends, not from following them. And our clients visions deserved the effort.

In decade two, we're speeding up.

No one asked for this.